Mermaid Theatre dips into the world of wonder and enchantment

Nova Scotia’s Mermaid Theatre launched in 1972 as a way of introducing rural youngsters to the magic of the performing arts.

Forty-four years later it is Canada’s most widely-traveled company, a dynamic internationally renowned troupe that crosses geographic boundaries to China, Japan, Bahrain, South Korea, the United States and Europe.

The company has built its sterling reputation on adapting children’s works into stylized world-class puppet shows.

After the 2015 performance of Stella, Queen of the Snow, Mermaid Theatre returns to the Arden Theatre for a double bill – Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny playing on Sunday, Dec. 11.

Adapted from Margaret Wise Brown’s 60-year-old classic, Goodnight Moon salutes familiar parent-child night-time rituals. Instead, The Runaway Bunny is a pretend tale of leaving home that evokes soothing responses from a caring mother.

“We’ve designed it so adults have as much fun as the children. It’s exquisite storytelling with wonderful music,” says artistic director Jim Morrow.

Morrow knows the company inside out having started at its inception as a touring performer before graduating to the artistic director’s chair in 1991.

The one-hour show launches with The Runaway Bunny performed in natural light on an elaborate three-foot stage in front of a screen.

“It documents a day in the life of a young bunny who is desperate to run away. Its brilliance is in the relationship between parent and child. You feel the parent tries to tire out the child before bed and the parent is playing along. It’s joyful. It’s masterful. It was ahead of its time.”

Instead Goodnight Moon is performed as a black light show.

“The genius is that nothing happens. We bring to life the objects in his bedroom. We three-dimensionalize them and the objects come alive – teaspoons, pictures, chairs, kittens, mittens and socks. One of the favourites is a mushroom. People love how it sounds.”

Puppets are carved to appear as authentic and original as the book’s drawings.

“We carve the puppets and objects as sculptures and learn how to move them through space and then we create the movement.”

In Goodnight Moon the little bunny is about two feet tall and his mother stands at six-foot-four.

“She’s quite impressive and imposing. Whereas in The Runaway Bunny, the puppets are slightly smaller.”

While the puppets are in production, composer Steven Naylor, who has collaborated on the troupe’s shows for 35 years, creates the dreamy, evocative music.

“He’s a genius at what he does. He creates the most beautiful scores and soundscapes. He’s magical and whimsical.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge the company has faced is keeping children intellectually engaged.

“We try to find ways to get inside a story, to resonate with children. We even have a shout-out policy and we encourage children to become involved.”

There is pride in Morrow’s voice knowing he has cultivated and nurtured Canada’s performing arts.

“This is an opportunity to walk into a room and for one hour become immersed in beauty and wonder.”